


Midsummer Moonshine

by Burgie



Category: Star Stable Online
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-01
Updated: 2018-08-01
Packaged: 2019-06-19 18:57:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15516384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie
Summary: A group of new friends enjoy some drunken Midsummer antics. Willow belongs to willownorthbook, Roo belongs to copperheadpony (I think), Bambi belongs to sso-jacob on tumblr, and Isabella belongs to space-unicorn-dot on tumblr.





	Midsummer Moonshine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [willownorthbook](https://archiveofourown.org/users/willownorthbook/gifts).



Willow had come to the Midsummer event to have a nice time. A nice, casual, relaxed time. She might play the drums or bass (mostly bass, her instrument of choice), or she could have a go on the keyboard, there were a lot of interesting-looking instruments on the stage that had been set up. Or she could just sit back and enjoy (or silently judge) the people who did decide to try playing the instruments.

None of that, however, had factored Roo into the evening. Willow gave a long-suffering sigh as her red-haired friend swigged from the bottle that she'd brought with her. The unmarked, mysterious clear glass bottle that contained some clear liquid that clearly burned as it went down.

"Why do you even drink it if it hurts?" asked Willow. Roo laughed, already sounding tipsy.

"Aw, c'mon, Wills, lighten up," said Roo, nudging her and sloshing some of the clear liquid onto Willow's jacket. Willow frowned, swiping at the wet patch as though that would dry it.

"If this stains, I'm sending you the dry-cleaning bill," said Willow. Roo snorted.

"About time the thing had a clean," said Roo. "I thought you would've at least worn a clean jacket here."

"It's not like there's anyone to impress," said Willow, shrugging. "Alex is still in druid jail."

"No, she's just druid grounded," said Roo. Willow laughed.

"Same thing," said Willow. "She's not here and according to that lady in the tent, Rebel is my true love. Not Alex." She frowned, folding her arms over her chest and looking down at her scuffed shoes.

"Yeah, I don't think that lady in the tent was trustworthy, if you know what I mean," said Roo. As she spoke, the blue flaps of the dream tent parted and a blonde girl stumbled out, clad in a strappy white Midsummer dress that was being sold in the Midsummer shop. As they watched, the girl stumbled over to a flowerpot, caught up her curly blonde hair in a fist, and vomited into the flowers.

"Gross," said Willow. Roo nodded.

"At least when I'm drunk, I don't puke in flowerpots," said Roo, looking smug. Willow frowned at her.

"You're a real upstanding member of society," said Willow. Seeing that the stage was currently unoccupied, Willow began to move towards it. By the time she'd reached the seats in front of the stage, she was running, desperate to not miss out on snagging that bass.

Once she had the instrument in her hands, Willow grinned. She never felt happier than when she had a bass in her hands, her fingers finding the strings with the ease of someone long-accustomed to playing. Roo grinned at her from the seats where she sat down, still holding the bottle of clear liquor.

Playing the bass made Willow feel happy, free, any lingering sadness from Alex's punishment melting away as she got into the song that she was playing. There was sheet music on the stage, guiding anyone who wanted to play traditional Midsummer songs, but Willow was in the mood for something different. Something original. Something that she'd been working on for ages, that she wanted to show to Alex whenever she was free from being druid grounded. If she ever worked up the courage to show it to her, anyway. Maybe she'd need some liquid courage from Roo for that.

As the night wore on, stars appearing in the sky, callouses formed on Willow's fingers but she didn't care. She'd just gotten so into the music, into the action of playing, into the song that she was playing. Anyone else who stepped onto the stage tried to play to her tune, but none of them quite managed it. Willow couldn't hear them, anyway. In her mind's eye, all she could see was a girl with sad brown eyes hunting for Iceroots and fighting off foxes in the frozen valley to the North.

"Mind if I take over?" asked a girl, suddenly appearing in front of her. Willow frowned, losing her train of thought. Now that her fingers had stilled, the throbbing set in.

"I guess," said Willow, a little annoyed at the interruption but knowing that she'd thank this girl for it later. She set the bass down in its stand, swaying a little after stepping back. Yikes, she needed a drink and a good sit down.

Willow carefully made her way off the stage, her knees yelling at her about standing for so long. She grimaced, rubbing her calves.

"That's the best bass-playing I've seen all night," said Roo, slapping Willow on the back.

"Thanks," said Willow. "Alright, I'll bite, give me some of that whatever the hell it is." Roo grinned, fiendishly delighted. "Hey, I'm only drinking it because I'm too thirsty and my legs are too sore to walk over to the tables. And I'm a little depressed over Alex."

"Drink up," said Roo, pressing a new bottle into Willow's hand. Willow frowned. How many of those did she have? But, shrugging, she tugged the cork out of the bottle and took a swig of the liquid within.

It burned. God, it burned, all the way down her throat to her stomach. Willow retched, running her tongue over her teeth.

"I reiterate what I asked earlier," said Willow. "What is in that?"

"Mystery Drink X," said Roo. Willow choked on her next mouthful and seriously contemplated pouring it out onto the ground. "Wait, no, no, that was Tim's drink, ew! No, not that, it's a mixture of mystery ingredients."

"Right," said Willow. "You couldn't put any nice taste in it, could you?"

"It wouldn't be so powerful otherwise," said Roo. "Don't worry, once you've got the buzz, you'll forget all about the taste."

"I hope so," said Willow. She took another sip, though, just to make sure, and yep, still gross. She stuck her tongue out.

"I guess you can mix something else in," said Roo. "Like... that orange soda, maybe, or the pink one. Pick your poison, as they say."

"This is poison," said Willow, standing. "I'm trying to make it palatable." Her knees cracked, her thigh muscles joining in on the protesting now, but Willow managed to hobble her way over to the picnic blankets where she flopped down beside a picnic basket that was filled with various foods and some bottles of soda. Thankfully, it was cool, probably due to some druid magic. Everything here was due to some druid magic. Willow, apparently, was due to some druid magic. Well, almost everything here was due to druid magic, Roo's drink was more on Dark Core's side of things. Or GED's, for drilling through solid rock or actively poisoning the environment.

While Willow carefully tried to pour the orange soda into Roo's mystery drink, she smelled, rather than saw, someone come up beside her. They smelled strongly of booze.

"What's that?" the newcomer asked, flopping down on the other side of the picnic basket. Willow recognised the voice with a grimace. The girl from the tent. No wonder she hadn't been able to see that Alex was Willow's true love, the girl was a drunkard. Much like Willow's best friend.

"Poison," said Willow, looking at the now-full bottle and studying it. She took a sip, grimacing. Ugh. It tasted like watered-down cordial, only with booze instead of water.

"Sounds good," said the tent girl, holding her hand out. "Gimme."

"She's over there if you want some," said Willow, pointing to where Roo still sat in front of the stage. The girl got up with a grunt and made her way over to Roo, returning with Roo and a bottle of the vile-tasting drink. Willow didn't know why she was still drinking it, her brain was pretty much on autopilot at this point. Or maybe the buzz was setting in.

"Another satisfied customer," said Roo as the girl took a swig and almost choked.

"What the hell is in that?" asked the girl, her face turning red as she coughed.

"Secret recipe," said Roo.

"Poison," said Willow at the same time.

"Well, it's good, whatever it is," said the girl, taking another swig and this time only clearing her throat after swallowing. "Woo, that's nice."

"See?" said Roo, smirking at her friend. "I told you people'd like it."

"Well, I guess you'll have two dead bodies on your hands, then," said Willow. Though, the more she drank, the more soda she could put in, making it taste better. She immediately relayed this important information to her barfly friend.

"Willow, you're a genius!" said Roo, grabbing an empty bottle and pouring in some alcohol. She added some soda to it, then more alcohol, then more soda, and continued until the bottle was full. Fortunately, the soda didn't fizz up too much, though there were still bubbles on the top of the drink.

"Now we just need to find a test subject," said Willow.

"I volunteer," said the blonde girl, who had somehow already polished off her bottle. Willow worried for that girl's liver. Just like she worried for Roo's liver.

"No, we need someone fresh, someone who doesn't already have the taste in their mouth," said Roo, shaking her head. "Someone like..." Her eyes landed on the girl who had taken up Willow's spot on the bass, curly brown hair falling down over her face. "That one." She pointed, her finger wavering.

"Alright," said Willow, somehow managing to climb to her feet. "I'll go ask her if she wants a drink." She walked, stumbling slightly, over to the stage, thankfully only spilling a few drops of the drink.

"Hi," said the girl, looking up and putting the bass down when Willow got there. Her eyes flicked to the bottle in Willow's hand. "Did you want another go?"

"Not yet," said Willow, shaking her head and wobbling slightly. "I came to ask if you wanted a drink, I know playing that can be pretty thirsty work."

"I was just about to take a break, actually," said the girl, shaking out her wrist that she'd been using to play. "I'm Isabella, by the way, Isabella Burnett."

"Willow Northbook," said Willow, putting her hand out and then pulling it back in, replacing it with her empty hand. "Nice to meetcha."

"You too," said Isabella, smiling. "Is that what you wanted me to drink?"

"Yeah," said Willow, showing her the bottle. "My friend made it but I swear it's safe."

"That's exactly what someone would say if they were giving someone something unsafe," said Isabella, but she took it, sniffing it before taking a sip. "Oh, that's sweet." She smiled. "I like it."

"She likes it!" Willow called to Roo. Roo whooped, pumping her fist into the air, while the other girl busied herself with making another drink.

"What is it?" asked Isabella.

"Some sort of mystery booze mixed with orange soda," said Willow. "It's probably moonshine, for all I know."

"Probably," said Isabella with a grin. "But whatever it is, I like it."

"Sweet," said Willow, grinning. "Well, come join our picnic, we're pretty much gonna just experiment with different flavours and see what works."

"Gladly," said Isabella, smiling as she followed Willow over to the group at the picnic blanket.

"Hi," said the blonde girl, raising her hand in a wave. "I'm Bambi."

"Oh, so you introduce yourself to her," said Roo, feigning hurt.

"You're the bartender, I don't need to introduce myself to you," said Bambi. She took a gulp of her pink drink, swishing it around in her mouth. "Not as good as the orange one."

"I'm Willow, this is Roo, that's Bambi, apparently, and you're Isabella," said Willow, gesturing to each of them in turn. "Now that we all know each other, let's drink." She was definitely feeling pleasantly buzzed now, her only wish was that Alex could be here. Then it would be perfect, and Willow wouldn't be drinking quite so much to get over her hurt feelings and her concern for her girlfriend's mental wellbeing. Alex could probably use a good drink or two, herself. Maybe Willow would take her some of this new drink next time she visited Dino Valley, the cold air there would keep it chilled.

The rest of the night after Isabella joined them was a blur. Willow remembered only snatches of it, like dancing in a big group around the maypole, hopping like little frogs until they all fell over and laughed at the stars until their stomachs hurt, puking in the fishing game pond, making drunken flower crowns that looked like shit, going for a moonlit swim at Moorland beach to sober up and then starting all over again. At some point too, Willow remembered dragging the bass over to the picnic blanket and playing it while drunkenly (and horribly) singing something about a girl who lived in a pink world. There were tears, but also a lot of laughter, mostly at the expense of a drunken friend. And then, as the sun was rising, they were shooed away by a grumpy Jasper who had allegedly heard the noise from all the way on his farm in Golden Hills.

It had been a long time since Willow had been awoken by Gracie and not Roo pounding on her door. Her cat was patting her face, causing Willow to groan and try to snuggle deeper under the covers. Her everything hurt. Her head pounded, her body felt like it had been run over by a team of horses, her mouth was drier than the fabled desert area by Dino Valley, and Willow had never felt more regretful in her life. Nope, scratch that, Gracie had just decided to try showing her claws in an attempt to get her human to feed her.

"Alright, fine, I'll get up and feed you and then I'm going back to sleep," said Willow, squinting at her cat. Immediately, light pierced her eyes and Willow cried out, flinching back and covering her face with her hands. "Ow ow ow I'm never doing that to Roo again." Gracie meowed. "No, I mean it this time, that really hurts."

Somehow, Willow managed to drag herself out of bed, keeping her eyes mostly shut and trying to ignore the pounding in her head as she shambled through the house like a zombie. Gracie stood at her food dish and meowed again, but Willow made a beeline for the sink, filling a glass from the dishrack with water from the tap. She drank it quickly, followed by a few more glasses, and finally located and swallowed some painkillers. By that time, Gracie had reached the point of biting Willow's ankles.

"Alright, alright, don't eat me, I'm not dead yet," said Willow, locating Gracie's food and bending to pick up her food dish. Her stomach turned over at the movement, and Willow just barely managed to keep down the meagre contents of her stomach. Until she opened the can of cat food.

Feeding Gracie took much longer than Gracie would have liked, the angry cat glaring at Willow until the food dish was finally placed before her, heaped with wet cat food.

"Never again," said Willow as she swallowed new painkillers (the others having been brought up). "Gracie, if I ever so much as look at alcohol again, bite me." Gracie ignored her, too busy eating. Willow groaned and rubbed her temples. She'd never felt so shitty in all her life.


End file.
